(V. 1-17. [V. 2. Fear not etc.] 1)
Again, a promise is made beforehand, when they are to fight with Og, the king of Bashan, so that the history may be sanctified by the word of God, and the cause may be directed by the wisdom of God alone. Everything else is clear, for the names of the places and the mountains, Argob, Bashan, Gilead, Hermon, which is also called Sirion and Senir [v. 9], and the rest also occur very often in the following books.
King Og must have been a particularly large giant, who alone, even after he had heard that king Sihon was defeated, dared to fight with the Israelites, did not come to the aid of king Sihon, namely because he trusted in the size of his strength, as it is written here that he was nine cubits 2) long. And
1) Inserted by us.
2) A cubit is the measurement from a man's elbow to the tip of his middle finger, which is a foot and a half long.
Without doubt, not only was he so great, but his kingdom was ruled by such giants, each of whom presumed to kill many of Israel, as they say of "Enak's children" (Enakim) in Numbers 13:34: "Compared to them, we appeared as locusts." If the Enakim were many, it is believable that the giants of King Og were also many, so that the work of faith in the people of Israel and the wonders of God's promise would be the more conspicuous. For under Saul all the Israelites fled from One Giant, which Og also hoped would happen here, and it would have happened if the faith of the people and the true promise of God had not worked a miracle.
That which we have interpreted: Sub scatebris Pisga [unler den Quellen Pisga^, has Jerome:Ad radices Phasga [at the foot of
of Phasgah] and reads in Hebrew: Affedoth Pisga. And it is not yet certain whether it is a proper name or a generic name, although I am inclined to think that I almost believe it is.
It would like to be the name of a city, moved by Jos. 13, 20 [Vulg.], where among the cities of the tribe of Reuben Assedoth Pisgah is enumerated, that is, Assedoth at the foot of the mountain Pisgah. But also Jerome says in the book "of the Hebrew localities" (locis) that it is the name of a city. Otherwise it means gushing water, springs, outpouring.
V. 18-20. Now therefore go armed before your brethren, the "children" of Israel.
This he says to those of the tribe of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. But this reads as if he wanted them to wage war out of their strength. But this is done so that there may be room for faith and the divine promise, and so that God may not be sorely tried. For although God creates, nourishes, sustains and governs all the children of men, He does not want anyone to be idle, but has given the members by which one is to beget, nourish and govern the other, by which God is given the opportunity to create, nourish and govern, so that it may be perceived by faith that the hidden power of God works everything under the human work, and the unbelievers are deceived, who only look at the work of man and do not know the power of God.
So also here they are commanded to use weapons, and yet they are forbidden to trust in weapons. They go along in God's works with their powers, and yet they are not presumptuous of their powers. What, then, where faith and the Word prevail, are human powers but a kind of larvae of God, under which, hidden, he works his wonders, while by the weakness of them he challenges against himself the trustworthy, the strong, the wise, and the holy? and when they have begun, he soon destroys them, and triumphs over them, and makes a public display of them [Col. 2:15]. Blessed is he whose members and arms serve God in this way! Yes, he who recognizes that God's power and wisdom is such, trusts completely, not in the larva of God, but in the word, which is mighty under the larva.
and is able and does great things, yes, all in the Lord. Thus it will happen that he will be able to walk freely and securely, far from (in medio) presumption and despair, so that he will not tempt God, since he has what he can use, nor despair if he lacks what he could use. For God, who works with him among the things he has, will also work with him without these things when he has nothing, so that in this way he has neither abundance nor more when everything is present, nor lack or have less when everything is lacking. For he has God on both sides, as Paul [Phil. 4, 12.] says: "I have learned to have abundance, I have learned to suffer lack" etc. But the ungodly are puffed up by the goods at hand; if they lack, they are beaten down, because they alone grasp the larva of goods; the rest, who will not use what is given them, tempt God.
V. 21-29. And Joshua I commanded etc.
He repeats the promises of future victories and the appointment of a leader, and at the same time he inculcates the past in order to strengthen their faith both by the promise of future things and by the reproach of the past, since he himself was not to go over the Jordan with them, nor could he obtain this from the Lord through his supplications. And so in this chapter he concluded the story he had begun, in which he briefly repeated the entire history. In the following chapter he begins to exhort and interpret the law, and Deuteronomy begins.
But why is Moses not heard, since it is likely that he prayed in the spirit? This is written for our example and comfort. For although the Lord does not hear him, because of which Moses realized that he was angry with him, as he says here, yet he does not leave him and commands him to go up to the mountain and see the land, and to give the command to Joshua. So we too should not be surprised if we are not heard, since we do not know how to pray, but at the same time we should also look at
Do not doubt in any way that we are pleasing and dear to God, and take hold of His goodness under wrath, so that we will not be despondent.
Secret interpretation.
The fact that Moses does not cross the Jordan into the promised land, but is commanded to leave this to another leader, is the great secret that, as it says in the letter to the Hebrews [Cap. 7, 19], the law could not make anything perfect. For the law also does not give the spirit of grace, therefore it does not lead into the kingdom of God, where the right inheritance of the Lord is. Moses indeed kills two kings on the other side of the Jordan, that is, the law humbles sinners and shows that they are killed, and leaves nothing alive, that is, no trust in any thing, for it leads to hell and is an office of death, but leaves the cattle and goods unharmed, which become a prey. For the law does not kill a man bodily, but only the confidence of the heart; when this is killed, all that the man
is and has, into the service of the law as a bark, and it lives the wretched man with all his powers as a prisoner of the law.
But because it does not preach the forgiveness of sins, which it has stirred up through its service, it must die in the land of Moab outside the kingdom of God. For it is not fitting that the people of freedom should be taught the constraint of the law that kills, but the gift of the Spirit that gives life. Therefore, the whole law falls here, so that nothing is left of it, so that even man does not know where it is buried.
Joshua, who means Christ both in name and in deed, although he was a servant of Moses, nevertheless, after his master died, he leads the people in and distributes the inheritance of the Lord. Thus Christ, who was first put under the law, served it for us; but at last, when it came to an end, he instituted another ministry, that of the gospel, by which we are led by him into the spiritual realm of a happy and secure conscience toward God, where we reign forever.